A mother has taken to the steps of the Senedd to call for the release of her prisoner son.

Shirley Lloyd, from Adamsdown, Cardiff, protested in Cardiff Bay to raise awareness of the campaign to free her son after eight years behind bars.

Her son Shaun Lloyd, 25, was convicted of street robbery at the age of 18 in 2006 and was given an indeterminate prison sentence under the Imprisonment for Public Protection Act.

Ms Lloyd, who was joined by other campaigners, said she was calling not only for her son’s release but for an emergency review of thousands of people who she said were still locked up under the now abolished act.

It was introduced under the Criminal Justice Act in 2003 by then Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett, and was intended to protect the public against criminals whose crimes were not serious enough to merit a normal life sentence, but who were regarded as too dangerous to be released into society when the terms of their original sentence had expired.

Ms Lloyd said: “Since they’ve abolished the IPP act in 2012, Shaun has seen people come in for the same crime, sentenced for three years and out in 18 months or some sentenced for 12 months and being released within six months.”

Shaun Lloyd

Cardiff Central AM Jenny Rathbone, who was at the demonstration, said: “The courts were using the IPP act totally inappropriately for people who were committing a second offence such as affray or assault. These people don’t deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison, while it costs the taxpayer nearly £40,000 to keep someone in prison each year.

“Shaun has served his index offence sentence and passed all the courses he’s been asked to do with flying colours and they’re still not letting him out.

“It’s very difficult for the Welsh Government to do anything about this as criminal justice is not a devolved issue. The Ministry of Justice has to act on this, it’s their responsibility.”